Monday, March 5, 2012

Strengthening the Branch in Bacau

Dear family and friends,

Hello! How are you? I hope you had a pretty nice week. Now it's March! It's almost springtime. The snow keeps melting...very slowly. I love the springtime. Last year, it was awesome in Deva during March and April. The weather was perfect. I'm getting tired of the cold and snow. It was also really windy the past few days! It was like Constanta winter all over again!(maybe not that bad...) Anyways, it was a good week. Bacau is...well...Bacau. Elder Peterson and I are getting along well. We're having fun trying to give our investigators baptismal dates and helping them get to church. They still haven't come. We're still trying to work with Iulian. He's a cool guy. We are teaching Sava too. We extended him a baptismal invitation for the first week of April. We're trying to help him understand the meaning of the restored church, and to pray sincerely to recieve help to stop smoking and find out if the BOM really is the word of God. It's going well with them. It's always a difficulty finding new investigators though.

We had exchanges with our ZL's in the middle of last week. I was with Elder Eaton. He's 3 transfers below me, and it's his first as zone leader. He's a great missionary. We did a lot of contacting, block knocking, and tried to visit a less-active member, but he wasn't home. Elder Herman was with Elder Peterson. We all had a district meeting at the church, and then we got some mici from Kaufland! I love Kaufland mici! I hope I can be able to make mici back in America somehow....and sarmale. It's tasty stuff. We went on an adventure la tara (countryside) to visit the Iancu's. We took a maxi taxi about 40 minutes outside of Bacau to Tescani, their little sat (village). They made us ciorba and supa de cartofi (potato soup) from their own vegetables and chickens and everything. It was tasty. We had a little thought about scripture study. They have a humble little home, with a cool dog and cute little kittens. Fratele Iancu is a good member (he hitch-hikes into Bacau just about every Sunday for church). However, he has a tendency to talk about a lot of problems caused by communism and the orthodox church. It's a little frustrating sometimes to help him stop talking a lot about problems that nobody can fix, and to help him realize how blessed he should be as a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ. He did the same thing in church yesterday.

Church was fast and testimony meeting. We had 4 members come. It was a good testimony meeting, and we could feel the spirit! We had no investigators there. The Dragomirs (Georgeta andher son, Dan) came, and so did Alin and Fratele Iancu. After our branch business and finances and all, we went home to finally eat! We had some good chicken spaghetti and snickers! Later in the day, we both got a little discouraged because of the state of the branch. It has not really seen a change in a long time. It's hard to change this branch. We were a litttle discouraged at the fact that the branch just isn't changing, because the members don't want to make needed changes. It affects our missionary work too. However, it's how it is, and so we keep trying. I'm glad that Elder Peterson and I get along well.

Anyways, that's about all that happened this week. It's good to hear about home. I can't believe I'll be back in school in just over 5 months! I'm excited that Chris was able to meet Jason Alexander. That's random! I bet he loved that. It sounds pretty fun. Kenadee is huge now! I'm happy that everyone is doing well. That's really cool about Diana and her mission call to Taiwan! I haven't talked to her forever. It's awesome that she's going to go on a mission! Mom, tell her I say congratulations! Missions are the most intense roller coaster rides ever, and they do change your life forever. It's a great privilege to invite others to change their lives through the gospel and atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm very glad I chose to serve, even when it's tough at times. Dad,I'll still be waiting to hear about my registration deadline for BYU. Ioana, a member in Buc, got accepted to go to BYU this Fall! I think it would be cool to see her there when I go back. Well, it's good that the family is doing well. I guess I'm done for now. Hope you have a good week, and we'll talk later. Go forth and conquer! Be fierce! Ciao.